On Friday, we drove 92 miles northeast of where we were staying in LaJunta, to see the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. In 1864, there were mounting tensions, so the story goes, between the Plains Indians and the white settlers that were moving west. The Sand Creek Massacre is a site where the Indians who lived there were attacked by some American Army troops. Some claim that the Indians were living peacefully and bothering no one, and there was no reason for the unprovoked attack. Yet there are other claims that the Indians were scalping the white folks in the area. Ouch! I’d call that a bother. Anyway, whatever the truth is, the Indians were attacked by the Army and now this “sacred” site memorializes the massacre that took place. In addition to the history of the area, the landscape was beautiful. We walked along some trails to get to the site of the massacre and enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way. The only bad part of the experience were these pesky flies that were all around. They would land on your leg or arm surreptitiously, then would sting the heck out of you. Unfortunately some of them got in the truck, so as Joe was driving along, he would occasionally be surprised by a sudden stinging on his leg and have to swat at the flies as he was driving. Not exactly safe driving, but couldn’t be helped.

 

On the way back to our camper, we decided to stop and pick up some lunch at a food truck that was parked in front of the campground. The food truck advertised the “Best BBQ around”. Well, we love barbecue, so we decided to test the truck for truth in advertising. Our conclusion was that he was indeed telling the truth. The barbecue sandwiches were delicious.

 

After lunch, we went to the Indian Koshare Museum. There were two things that struck us about this museum. One was that it had the greatest collection of Indian artwork that we have ever seen. The paintings were absolutely beautiful.

 

 

The second thing is that there was a stage in the museum, because occasionally the Indian Koshare Dancers perform there. The interesting thing about this area was not so much the stage as the seating area in front of it. It was a sunken (4 or 5 steps down) circular area, called the “Round Room”, and had a bench type seat attached to the wall around the perimeter. The most unusual thing about it was the ceiling, which was made of logs. In fact, it was the largest self-supported log ceiling in the world. Joe counted 17 different layers of poles of logs that were interlaced to help support the ceiling.

 

  

Here are a few interesting quotes we saw on the walls of the museum:

 

Another unusual thing about the museum (yes, I know I said there were two things that struck us about it, but I reserve the right to add a third) was that it was built on a shoestring budget by the local Boy Scouts. They purchased the paintings one at a time until they had a large enough collection. They built the museum in order to preserve the memory and culture of the Indians of the Great Plains and the Southwest. Considering that story, it is amazing how impressive the museum is. Well done, Boy Scouts!!!